The Government of Maharashtra and international non-profit, Climate Group, today jointly brought together leading businesses to collaborate on bolder EV targets in the State.
The event saw Aaditya Thackeray, Hon'ble Minister for Environment, Tourism and Protocol, Maharashtra speaking with CEOs and senior representatives from leading businesses including Flipkart, IKEA India and Zomato, that have committed to Climate Group's leading global initiative on electric vehicles, EV100. The event also saw participation from Amazon India, MoEVing and the World Economic Forum.
Maharashtra has set ambitious EV targets, and its EV policy, released in July 2021, is armed with economic incentives to enhance demand and supply for personal and commercial use. While supporting the deployment of EV charging infrastructure, the policy also exempts road tax and registration fees on all new EVs, among other fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
At the event, the government welcomed input and feedback from companies to help the latter better leverage the provisions and incentives under the State's EV policy. Businesses participating in the event presented their electrification targets, action plans and progress made so far. They also deliberated on the role of current demand incentives to drive a transition of 25% by 2025 as directed in the western State's EV policy. Corporate leaders at the event requested the State to consider further incentives, including leveraging mainstream finance to facilitate uptake of EV targets. Other discussion points included non-monetary incentives (such as zero emission zones) and ambitious targets for 100% electrification by 2030. Last year, Maharashtra became the first Indian State to partner with the global EV100 initiative.
At the event, Minister Aaditya Thackeray announced forming an action group of companies to accelerate the adoption of electric mobility in the delivery sector across Maharashtra. EV100 will facilitate the dialogue amongst industry stakeholders.
Aaditya Thackeray, Minister for Environment, Tourism and Protocol, Maharashtra, said: "We are keen to transform Maharashtra into a thriving hub for clean transport in the country. Through EV100, we want to keep the dialogue open with the industry to ensure better uptake of our EV policy. We invite businesses to take full advantage of the incentives we have been offering within the clean transport ecosystem."
Divya Sharma, India Executive Director at Climate Group, said: "We welcome Maharashtra Government's leadership on EV transition. The inter-sectoral contributions of states and businesses will be critical in pursuing ambitious decarbonisation targets to build a clean vehicle future. Continued collaboration on Maharashtra's policy mandate with EV100 companies will open long-term and broader economic opportunities across the State."
The participating companies will present their transition roadmap plans to the government, possibly with revised targets to achieve greater fleet electrification before 2030.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group CEO, Flipkart, said: "We are very proud of the fact that we are the first e-commerce company in India to commit to EV100 to transition 100% of our last mile fleet to EVs by 2030. With sustainability in our DNA, we firmly believe in demonstrating the relevance of electric mobility in achieving both business and sustainability goals as we pave the way for greater adoption of EVs across the country. We look forward to continued support from the government as we continue our proactive and holistic approach towards conducting our business responsibly & creating shared value."
Mohit Gupta, Co-Founder and Head of New Businesses, Zomato, said: "Zomato welcomes Government of Maharashtra's intent to leverage electric vehicles to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. We are aligned with the necessity to move to the EV ecosystem, and have publicly announced a target of 100% EV fleet by 2030. We appreciate the consultative approach undertaken and have provided our inputs to help translate the policy into action."
Susanne Pulverer, CEO & CSO (Chief Sustainability Officer), IKEA India, said: "We welcome this very important initiative by the Maharashtra Government. At IKEA, becoming people and planet positive is an integral part of how we do business at every step. We have a goal to deploy 100% EVs in our last mile deliveries in India by 2025. This can be possible only by collaboration with our valuable partners."
